Swampyville's - "The First Progressive Era"

(Wikipedia was used for much of this article)
(My use of Wikipedia is because most of it mirrors
what I learned in History classes at LSU in New Orleans.
Our history professor was Stephen Ambrose who many of us
in the military referred to as "that long haired hippy
professor")

The First Progressive Era!

In the early years of American history, most political
leaders were reluctant to involve the federal government
too heavily in the private sector, except in the area of
transportation. In general, they accepted the concept of
laissez-faire, a doctrine opposing government interference
in the economy except to maintain law and order. This
attitude started to change during the latter part of the
19th century, when small business, farm, and labor movements
began asking the government to intercede on their behalf.

By the turn of the century, a middle class had developed that
was leery of both the business elite and the somewhat radical
political movements of farmers and laborers in the Midwest and
West. Known mostly as (Progressives), these people favored government
regulation of business practices to, in their minds, ensure
competition and free enterprise. Congress enacted a law
regulating railroads in 1887 (the Interstate Commerce Act),
and one preventing large firms from controlling a single
industry in 1890 (the Sherman Antitrust Act). These laws
were not rigorously enforced, however, until the years
between 1900 and 1920, when Republican Progressive President Theodore
Roosevelt (1901–1909), Democratic Socialist President Woodrow Wilson
(1913–1921), and others sympathetic to the views of the
Progressives came to power. Many of today's U.S. regulatory
agencies were created during these years, including the
Interstate Commerce Commission and the Federal Trade
Commission. Muckrakers (journalists) during this period encouraged
readers to demand more regulation of business. Upton
Sinclair's The Jungle (1906) showed America the horrors
of the Chicago Union Stock Yards, a giant complex of meat
processing that developed in the 1870s. The federal government
responded to Sinclair's book with the new regulatory Food and
Drug Administration. Ida M. Tarbell wrote a series of articles
against the "Standard Oil" monopoly. The series helped pave the
way for the breakup of the monopolies. (Who later regrouped,
recharged and minipulated the system).

When Democrat Woodrow Wilson was elected President with
a Democratic Congress in 1912 he implemented a series of
progressive? policies. In 1913, the Sixteenth Amendment was
ratified, and the income tax was instituted in the United
States. Wilson resolved the longstanding debates over tariffs
and antitrust, with the Sixteenth Amendment and creating
the Federal Reserve, a complex business-government partnership
that to this day still dominates the financial (World). (Their
New? One World Order).

It was during this era that many of the Progressives (including
so called conservatives) adopted the Fabian philosophy of the
"Gradual Transformation" of society. The prevailing capitalists
of the time wanted to extend their National monopolies to an
International monopoly. The biggest stumbling block was this
nations protectionism (their term was isolationism). Thus, began
the road to Internationalism. Changing society has never been about
ideology; but, about profits and the American fish fell for it,
hook, line and sinker!